Santa Paws
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1.
Not everyone has read let alone reviewed the last chapter yet - but as I don't want to disappoint the kind readers who reviewed, I am going to post this chapter now. In case you have not read yesterday's chapter yet, please go back and read chapter 29 first.
Santa Paws' trial was a short affair and took place in a small court room in front of the Wizengamot and under exclusion of the public. Amelia Bones as the Minister of Magic and Sirius as the head of the Wizengamot led through it.
At first, Dumbledore's lawyer had the word. "On the twenty-fifth of May last year, this dog with the name of Santa Paws attacked Albus Dumbledore on a cemetery and made him a Squib," the lawyer informed the Wizengamot, only to add, "During the seven and a half months since then, Mr. Dumbledore's magic has not recovered. Therefore, we demand that this dog will be killed and his owner has to pay a fine of one million Galleons and cure Albus Dumbledore with the potion that he has already used to cure a former Squib with the name of Regina Lestrange."
The Wizengamot broke out laughing; however, Harry was not sure if it was because of the ridiculous accusation that a dog had stolen someone's magic or because of the old wizard's still ludicrous demands.
While Harry could have taken a lawyer as well, he and Santa Paws had agreed with Amelia that she should personally question Santa Paws.
"Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Dumbledore's lawyer?" Amelia asked, causing Sirius to speak up.
"Dumbledore," he almost growled. "Do you have any proof?"
"There was no one else who could have done that, and I felt the dog cast magic at me," Dumbledore replied in his grandfatherly voice that implied that he would not be able to harm a fly.
"Are there any more questions?" Amelia enquired; however, no one spoke up. Instead, some of the members whispered to each other, and a few small laughs could still be heard.
"Santa Paws, did you make Albus Dumbledore a Squib?" Amelia then turned to Harry's familiar.
=No," the canine replied. =Voldemort's large serpent bit Dumbledore a couple of times, and he was slowly dying. I then asked Harry if I could heal him, and he agreed. I saved Dumbledore's life, which is already the second time, and I saved him from a memory charm years ago; however, as the old coot didn't behave well towards Harry on multiple occasions, I did nothing specifically to bring back his magic. I merely restored his life force.=
Cedric diligently translated the dog's explanation and even made the canine's talk more understandable for the humans listening in.
Amelia turned to the members of the Wizengamot and enquired, "Honourable members, what do you believe would be the right thing to do in this case?"
To Harry's surprise, Frank was the first to respond. "I believe that Santa Paws should not receive any punishment for not restoring Dumbledore's magic. There was no reason for him to do so. However, considering that he saved his life even more than once, he should receive a special award. He even saved Alice's and my lives a few years ago."
Several of the members nodded in agreement, and Sirius was the next to voice his opinion. "I suggest that we award Santa Paws the Order of Merlin third class. During the last four years, he has saved several other people's lives as well on multiple occasions."
No one else spoke up, and Amelia finally instructed the members to let out red sparks if they wanted to have Santa Paws punished and green sparks if they wanted to honour him.
The Wizengamot quickly decided without a single red spark that Santa Paws was free to go and should receive the Order of Merlin third class for his deeds.
"Harry and Santa Paws, if you cure Albus Dumbledore like you cured Regina Lestrange before is completely up to the two of you," Amelia informed them, right before Sirius ended the meeting.
'Why would we?' Harry thought to Santa Paws, who nodded, seemingly contented with himself and the world. 'Congrats to your Order of Merlin third class,' Harry added, feeling amused that a dog would receive such an award and proud of his familiar at the same time.
'Thanks Harry,' Santa Paws replied, pleasantly, before he swiftly left the court room, making Harry hurry to follow.
HP
On the following day, the headline on the frontpage of the Daily Prophet screamed, 'Has Albus Dumbledore gone nuts? Putting a sweet puppy on trial'.
Tom let the newspaper that Balthazar had brought him sink, deep in thoughts. 'So, Dumbledore is a Squib now, and that's what I must be, too,' he thought. 'Apparently, it was not the dog's fault though, so maybe we both brought it upon ourselves by breaking Crouch's anti apparition wards and apparating away. Still, the dog cast something at me,' he thought, recalling that his body had glowed light green for a moment. So far, however, he had not been able to find any hint of a spell like that in the library.
'I can't very well put that Santa Paws dog on trial now, can I?' he thought, sarcastically. 'They'd simply chuck me into Azkaban. Oh well, on the other hand, I'd be together with my followers, and we could make a plan how to get out of there together.'
In lack of a better idea, he returned his attention to the newspaper and read ahead. The second headline informed him, 'Canine receives Order of Merlin third class for saving wizards' and witches' lives a couple of time.'
He pondered the idea of sampling going to kill the dog, when he recalled being something like a Squib at the moment. 'I'll just need to continue my research,' he resolved and headed to the library, hurling the newspaper into the fireplace as he went.
HP
During the last weekend in May, the Quidditch cup between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang took place at Beauxbatons. The first and second school teams, accompanied by three students from each house as well as Professors McGonagall and Sprout travelled to France by Portkey on Friday morning. From Hufflepuff, Hermione, Luna and a third-year boy accompanied the group.
When they arrived in front of the impressive entrance doors to the school, Madame Maxime greeted them and offered a tour through the premises. Everything looked much more modern than at Hogwarts, and there were no paintings of former wizards and witches decorating the halls. Instead, the walls were covered by modern art, some of them giving the impression as if they had been produced by students.
"I like how they teach the students Arts here," Hermione spoke up, giving Harry a thoughtful look. "It would be great if you could arrange for new subjects like Arts and Music at Hogwarts, too."
"I'll discuss it with the professors during the summer holidays," Harry promised, faintly recalling that Hermione and Daphne had already asked him for the very same thing years ago.
Just like during the previous year at Hogwarts, Harry managed to catch the Snitch in both matches, against Beauxbatons and against Durmstrang, so that in the end, Hogwarts was allowed to keep the Quidditch Cup for another year, before the three teams were going to meet again at Durmstrang.
"Thank you so much for allowing us to participate," Harry said to McGonagall once the Portkey took them back to Hogwarts. "That was much fun."
"It was really interesting," Hermione added in apparent excitement. "Their library was beautiful, even if ours is much better equipped."
HP
Just a fortnight after their visit to France, the fifth-year students had to take their OWLs. While Harry did not have to take his Potion OWL, Severus had registered him for the NEWT, stating that he was going to be very pleased when Harry was ready to take over some of the Potions classes. So far, Harry had only once taught the first-years, when Severus had been busy with an urgent potion for the hospital wing that was beyond Harry's expertise.
"I wonder when we're going to get the results," Hermione said in concern.
"It might be August before you receive them," Sprout told her. "Don't worry about that now."
"What if…" Hermione began to speak, however, Harry cut her off, feeling uncharacteristically unnerved.
"Nothing," Harry interrupted her sure to come tirade. "No, you haven't failed anything, and you'll be able to enter all the NEWT classes which you wish to attend."
"How do you know that?" Hermione asked, sounding upset.
"I just know it," Harry replied, shortly, while Santa Paws put both front paws against Hermione's stomach and licked her hand in reassurance.
"You think so, too?" Hermione asked, gently cradling the canine close.
Santa Paws let out a confirming woof.
HP
As no one at Hogwarts had ever received any education in the area of Arts, McGonagall and Harry decided to put a job advertisement into the Daily Prophet. It was published on the first day of the summer holidays, and to everyone's surprise, the first application arrived just a few hours later.
Harry and Luna, who was spending the first month on the North Pole with her boyfriend, were sitting in the room with the screen doing their summer assignments, when Minerva's elf Malcolm suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Harry, the headmistress asks you to either visit her or call her over the screen for a moment," the elf informed him, causing Harry to look at him in surprise.
"Is she already missing me?" he quipped. "I only returned home yesterday."
"No, Harry, sir, Malcolm believes that she wants to discuss something with you. It must be a good thing, because Mistress Minerva seemed happy."
Harry stood from his chair and approached the screen, casting the charm that would allow him to speak with someone before looking for the headmistress' office.
"Professor McGonagall," he addressed the teacher, who smiled upon hearing his voice.
"Thanks for calling so quickly, Harry," she replied, only to add, "and considering that you've already taken your OWLs, I suggest that you call me Minerva in private."
"Err, all right, thank you, Professor," Harry replied, wondering in bewilderment, 'Was that why I had to call her now?'
"Harry," Minerva brought him out of his musings, "we already have an application for the Arts position. It's from Miranda May. You won't know her, but she was a Gryffindor in the year after your birth parents, and she was not only a very friendly witch but also a brilliant student. Apparently, after finishing Hogwarts, she went to study Music at the Cologne Music College in Germany, before studying Arts for two years at the University of Kyoto in Japan. Right now, she is teaching at a muggle university in London."
"That sounds perfect," Harry replied, smiling. "Why don't you invite her for an interview? We could simply meet her in your office this time," he added, recalling the last job interviews, which they had to hold in the founders' quarters, as Dumbledore was still the headmaster at that time."
"Let's do that," Minerva replied, sounding excited. "When would be a suitable time?"
Harry shrugged. "For me, any time is fine," he reassured the headmistress, and they decided to invite Miranda May for ten o'clock on Saturday morning.
HP
Miranda May's classes were a huge success. All students from third year onwards were allowed to attend her classes once before deciding if they wanted to take either Music or Arts as an additional elective or even replace one of their elective classes with either of the new subjects, and even after the first week, her classes remained full.
As nice as the teacher seemed to be, Harry decided to not attend her classes, considering that he already had enough work due to being the owner of Hogwarts, the captain of the Hogwarts team, a prefect and a student assistant to the Potions professor, who intended to make him the youngest Potions Master of all times.
HP
As sixth-years, Hermione, Harry and Neville decided to take more responsibilities as prefects within Hufflepuff. They took some time to look after the first years, and during the first week of classes, Harry even sent Santa Paws to accompany the first-years to their respective classrooms.
HP
On the fifteenth of September, Harry and Santa Paws returned home after curfew.
"Dad," Harry addressed his father, "you can make anything here, can't you?"
Santa laughed aloud before enquiring, "Almost everything son, but what do you need this time?"
"Can you make me a time-turner?" Harry asked. "You see, it's Hermione's birthday in four days' time, and she is taking so many elective classes, which even partly collide with each other, that she really needs a time turner to go back for an hour at a time."
"Just for an hour shouldn't be a problem," Santa assessed, glancing at his brother, who gave him a comforting nod. "Please give me three days. I'll place it into your trunk in the evening of the eighteenth. If you don't know how to operate it, just come through again."
"Thanks Dad," Harry replied, happily, quickly hugging his father, before he returned to his dormitory through the trunks with Santa Paws on his heels.
Hermione was absolutely ecstatic to say the least, when Harry gave it to her and showed her how to use it. "Oh Harry, you're amazing. Now I'll be able to properly attend all my classes."
"Please don't let anyone see or hear that you have a time turner, as people aren't allowed to have such a thing," Harry warned her, and she nodded in apparent understanding.
"I'll be careful, Harry. I love this too much to let anyone catch me using it," she promised, smiling happily.
HP
One day, Harry was standing in Severus' private lab brewing one of the potions that were required for the Potions mastery, when Sirius suddenly spoke to him.
"Wait a moment," Harry instructed his godfather and swiftly continued the potion up to a point, where he could put it under a stasis charm. "What's wrong?" he then enquired, thinking that it had to be urgent if Sirius would disturb him in the lab.
"Harry," Sirius said, sounding extremely excited. "Amelia has agreed to become my wife."
"Congratulations," Harry replied, feeling happy for his godfather on the one hand, as Amelia was a very nice witch, however, annoyed at Sirius to disturb him in the lab for something that could have well waited until later.
"Anyway, what I wanted to ask you is if you'd be willing to become my best man for our wedding," Sirius continued. "It's going to take place on December 28."
"Of course," Harry promised. "That's a good timing anyway, as all the Christmas hassle will be over by then."
He sighed in relief, when his godfather ended the connection and he could return to his potion. 'As much as I love Sirius, he's still a little reckless,' he mused before banishing all thoughts about private matters from his mind.
HP
The wedding turned out to be the event of the year that was going to end after three more days. It took place in a charmed tent on the North Pole, which the elves had set up at a distance of about a mile from Santa's Workshop. While Amelia and Sirius wished to have their wedding on the North Pole, they did not want to give away their extended family and their home to the ministry workers and Wizengamot members, whom they had to invite.
Santa's elves and the reindeer picked up their guests at the Leaky Cauldron and brought them right to the front of the tent. Inside the tent, it was warm and cosy, and the walls were charmed to display the outside snow, which was twinkling in the sunshine.
"It was a beautiful wedding," Luna said, dreamily, when she and Harry went for a long walk through the snow with about a dozen puppies following them. "You made a very handsome best man."
Harry could not prevent himself from blushing at the unexpected praise, especially since he had spent days worrying if he would do everything correctly.
"Thank Merlin everything went well," he muttered.
"I'd like to have such a wedding, too, sometime in the future," Luna added, matter-of-factly, wearing a dreamy expression that shocked Harry to the core.
So far, he had not even thought about something like marriage. Luna had been his girlfriend for years now, however, they were still at school and would be for one and a half years in his case and two and a half years in Luna's.
"I'd like that, too," he replied, trying to not show his uncertainty.
HP
Harry's sixth year was almost over, and he was sitting at the Hufflepuff table enjoying his breakfast, while the fifth and seventh years fretted over their OWLs and NEWTs. All of a sudden, the post owls flew into the Great Hall like every morning at the same time. He rarely ever received mail during the school year, as most of his extended family was with him anyway, and the others had simpler means to easily contact him. However, today, an old barn owl was steadily approaching him, and he stared at the owl in surprise, when it crashed down onto the table holding out a muggle letter to him.
'Harry Potter, Hogwarts' was written on the front.
'Who would write me a muggle letter?' he wondered in disbelief.
"At least it's not a Howler," Daphne quipped, causing Harry to cast his friend a look of pure irritation.
tbc...
Thank you so very much for the many kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. Any ideas or opinions are welcome.
Next chapter: "Animagus Studies".